I Know
by bhanesidhe
Summary: Prompt/Request; Stiles being upset because of a certain death in "Star Wars; The Force Awakens", and Lydia cheering him up. [stydia-fanfiction on tumblr needs to fill requests in before S6 premiere. This is the 1st of ? prompts.]


Description: "Stiles being upset because of a certain death in the force awakens, and Lydia cheering him up?"

[stydia-fanfiction on tumblr needs to fill requests in before S6 premiere. This is the 1st of ? prompts.]

Genre: Slice of Life

* * *

It's been days she's been holiday shopping, the countdown to Christmas climbed and sales signs were legitimately distracting. So when Lydia actually acknowledges him in the gallery of the mall it is maybe the third time she's passed him by. But she blames the change of clothes. No hoodies, gimmicky T's, plaid button-down shirts or sneakers.

By significant contrast he's wearing a vest and a leather belt (with a holster) hanging low on his hips. Black vest, blue pants with a brown belt is a tacky combination but it kinda works and Stiles wears it with such swagger.

For the most part, he was under her radar, unrecognizable as himself until he started shouting "YESS! Scott! I got 'em! They're mine! Always and forever- until December 18th anyway." Then he leaned toward the person beside him, jabbed a finger forward and added in a deep tone of voice " _that's two you owe me, junior_."

"Fine, fine. Once I get paid I'll pay you back, I swear." Scott laughed. He seemed equally out of place and compensating for Stiles' downplayed outfit. Scott wore brown boots, beige jeans and an obnoxiously white costumeish hoodie, pulled over some sort of geek T-shirt. It had a sort of spaceship on it, with a silhouette of a man with a laser gun. Across it read the words, in a dramatic retro font; _'I KNOW.'_ \- she immediately knew it had to have been one of Stiles' T-shirts.

Too fascinated to be irritated, Lydia caught up with them and had to ask, "What have you been waiting in line for days over?"

The look of devastation on Stiles' face would become a familiar thing. Scott explained about Stiles' Star Wars fetish, or he tried to. But there didn't seem to be enough flailing (punctuation on Stiles' part) to help capture the entirety of it. Despite his occasional theatrical quotes to prove his love. Why anyone would choose to sleep on the floor for days to get tickets for a movie weeks away evaded her. The dressing up thing that she could get behind. And with that compliment, Stiles calmed, like someone flipped a switch.

"Oh, thanks." He flipped his collar up, his smile turned back to a cocky smirk she was certain that was only half his. _"You know, sometimes I amaze even myself."_

.

The next time she spotted the fitted black vest, it was under a jacket and worn with jeans and a T-shirt. The T-shirt was similar to the one Scott had worn weeks ago, except the shape in the background wasn't a spaceship; it was a tiny android. And the silhouette was of a woman with a laser blaster, with the retro text over it reading _"I LOVE YOU"_ instead.

Saturday, Dec 19th was around the time for collecting stocking stuffers (or more accurately window shopping for accessories to wear during holiday parties,) so Lydia could spare a couple of minutes. Meanwhile he had a ton of bags from the toy store piled on the table around him. She'd never seen someone look so miserable to go Christmas shopping.

"You're missing your best friend," she said, dropping her shopping bags onto the table in front of him.

That look of devastation returned like a flash, before it seemed he realized she was inquiring after Scott. He told her Scott was off watching the 'Force Awakens' for a second time, this time on a date with Kira, while Stiles waited out the 2 hours and 18 (damn) minutes in the gallery.

"I'm not-I'm never _ever_ going back in there. I'm just trying to cheer myself up," he answered, poking at a 'LEGO Star Wars Jakku' box set.

"You don't seem to be doing a good job of it," she said, concerned. "Would you like to talk about it?"

"No. Never. I'm fine. Absolutely fine." Then he breathed in deep and tried to smile. "How about you?" but then he only half listened and nodded a lot instead of responding.

After a thoughtful moment, she asked carefully "Do you want to be alone?"

"What? Why? No, what makes you think that?"

"Because you're sitting here," she edged nearer and pressed on the table between them like it was invasive, "instead of being your usual third wheel. Worse, you're skipping out on one of your geek movies and you're sulking in the middle of the mall, 50 feet away from the arcade."

"I'm not sulking," he scoffed, hand to his chest in dramatic offense. "I'm reserving my energy. I'm a special commodity, not to be wasted."

Brow arched and eyes bright with scrutiny, her lips curved. "Not even on me." It wasn't a question. And this time, even though he was paying attention, he didn't have an answer right away.

.

"I just think," with his energy at full peak, Stiles' volume rose high over the pinging music of arcade games, "that given the circumstances, he should have seen it coming! I mean, it's not like there isn't a family history of violence!"

"Aren't all these movies violent? They're not called _'Star Peacetimes'_ ," Lydia aimed a plastic gun at the zombie on the screen and popped off a number of rounds. She kept forgetting to reload by shooting off screen, so her aim was great but her death toll was pretty low. Stiles didn't seem to mind her being such a liability, he kept placing quarters on the counter between them mid-blitzkrieg and without pausing in rant. Plus, he whined whenever she put down the gun.

"Yeah, I know that." He rolled his eyes. It was worth letting the zombie on the floor get in a few bites to show Lydia he disapproved of her bland analysis. "I just mean, he was rebel, rule breaker, lone wolf. He's more bad-ass than that! He deserved better!"

Game Over.

With his elbow prodding and a glance, they moved onto a fighting game and he knew he was meant to carry all their bags.

"There are a couple more movies coming out," Stiles grunted. His frustration had his fingers bashing at the buttons harsher than his usual spastic standards. "They could write him back in. I mean, they didn't show a body. And everyone knows, if you don't see a body-"

Lydia's hands were steadier than his and with one quarter she kept him standing at the one game and talking for nearly an hour.

"Han died once already, right." She tapped out patterns easily from memory, combinations of up, up, down, back, while she reflected on all the facts. "When he was in carbonite."

"Ugh, Ah!" he yanked his hands through his hair.

Lydia pulled off her 'special' and completed a 45 hit combo.

"Come on! Don't say his name," he glared at her and she beamed at him. "You did that on purpose."

"I forgot," she shrugged elegantly.

Grunting, he turned back to the game. Shoving another quarter into the slot, Stiles picked the cheesiest character he could think of and tried to take out his anger. After a round of Lydia letting him win he answered, "And anyway, he didn't die, he was just frozen in carbonite. Hey, did you know in early drafts of the 'Empire' script that scene wasn't there, he was supposed to fly off with Chewie in the Millennium Falcon to fight another day!" His shout of delight was mixed with frustration as Lydia won another round. And with a weaker character that she only picked because she liked her outfit!

"No," Lydia smiled, and sighed. Relieved to see a little of his usual bouncy self, back and bright. "I don't know anything about that."

Stiles scoffed at her humoring him. "Fine. Then I guess, it's my moral obligation to tell you everything about 'Empire Strikes Back.'"

It became easier when they were on the dancing game, standing on equal footing. Not because they were good. They weren't in sync at all because Stiles liked to gesture wildly to the action scenes while he described them. And even though Lydia knew all the pop songs, there was still a matter of keeping up with the beat in 4" heels.

With her hair pulled back and their jackets folded neatly behind them on the ground, she tried (and failed) to focus, unembarrassed by his Yoda impersonations. She only shook her head at his bombastic retelling and it reminded her she had seen the films, a long time ago with her dad.

To hear Stiles retell it well seemed surreal, especially since Stiles liked to fast-forward to only his favorite parts. Then he'd realize he left a massive gap and would then double-back and fill it in a convenient rush just so he could jump to his next favorite scene.

Then Stiles suddenly stopped when he got around to the character of 'that Lando'. Lydia had a general idea of why but didn't push so she came up with the distraction that always works with geeks in this regard.

"So then Princess Leia becomes a slave and wears a metal bikini, right?" Lydia gestured to her figure in a suggestive manner.

Staring dead at her, mouth gapped and eyes wide, Stiles stopped dancing and lost the game. His face colored not in embarrassment but in upset. "Lydia, that's in 'Return of the Jedi.'"

The kids beside them were angry they'd stopped dancing in lieu of talking. Stiles, suddenly disgruntled, took off and she had to hurry to catch up with him, but at least she remembered to grab their bags before leaving.

"I'm not mad at you for getting the wrong movie-"

"Good, you better not be-"

"I'm just... I don't know, I'd give back all my LEGO's, I'd even sell my fully loaded, vintage C-3PO Action Figure Case if they'd just fix this! I'd give anything for them to just-," he stopped short before and spun around quick enough that she slammed into him.

Between spending the last 20 minutes dancing with him and 2 hours shooting and button mashing her fingers numb, it wasn't surprising that she toppled backward. Stiles caught Lydia up by the arms, and their bags felt to the floor. It felt dramatic. It looked dramatic. He stared intensely into her face while she caught her bearings, and grabbed hold of his vest to keep upright.

"You know, this was the first time you've ever complimented anything I've ever worn," he smiled briefly, "and I'd totally give up my authentic Han Solo vest, if they'd bring him back to life."

From what Lydia had observed, Stiles was grieving. She'd seen symptoms of 'denial', 'depression', 'anger', and now 'bargaining'. Maybe this was just a main character in a movie franchise, but even in her vague recollection of bobble headed bad guys, glowing swords and teddy bears saving the universe was attached to the fondness of curling up to her dad and falling asleep on his lap. That warmth compared very little to the burning passion Stiles had for this, whatever this was... this thing he waited outside on the pavement for days to view just to get betrayed by.

"I'm really sorry for your loss, Stiles," she said and meant it.

"Thanks," Stiles said, moved by her sincerity. He smiled and eased back, "I love him."

" _'I Know'_ ," Lydia said, her tone of voice deep and in perfect mimicry of his earlier theatrics. Yeah, she might not be allowed to say Han Solo's name but she could do one better and quote him.

Eyes crazed and bright with delight, Stiles' grip on Lydia's arms tightened and it seemed like he would lift her off the ground. Then his phone chimed with an almost-but-not-quite-whimsical ringtone. Stiles quickly whispers 'Cantina' by way of an explanation.

"It's Scott," he explained, while cupping the phone to keep from being overheard. "OH! Okay, rightrightright." He rushed to hang up and sped back on track. "They're out of the movie. And waiting in the food court." He looked cheerier than he'd been all day "they've never seen the first 3 movies, so they've got loads of questions."

Yanking on her jacket from where she found it among their shopping bags, she pulled out her phone. "That's great. So, you're just going to meet up and tell them the plot to the original trilogy?"

"I guess," he waggled his brows at her suggestively, "you could join us. I could even bribe you with a LEGO Star Wars princess. There are a few to choose from and not all of them are in bikinis. Some have light sabers too. It's pretty great."

Although Stiles continued to bargain, Lydia was deeply invested in her phone.

"Rain check," She glanced up smiling, she searched his face for the same moroseness she'd seen earlier but saw only the giddiness of a geek boy ready to share. Basically, she saw Stiles.

"I'm serious, I've got to get my bags home," she pushed him aside but he insisted on carrying the bags through to the garage. Frowning deeply, he made dramatic pitiable sounds and she just rolled her eyes. It was maybe wookie sounds but he didn't seem to be very good at it. The noises echoed in the parking garage along with her laughs.

"You don't believe me, do you," she said smugly, climbing into her car. Stiles shrugged to keep from confirming her doubt. "How about this? You, me and the trilogy. August 6th."

Stiles stumbled back in genuine shock while Lydia started the car, "Wait. But that's like almost a year away."

"Nine months," she held up her phone so that he could see the screen clearly. "Star Wars, Original Trilogy, triple feature on the big screen."

Stiles almost snatched her phone away through the window, then realizing that he dropped his shopping bags and doubled back to pick them up, "wait, what's that mean?"

"It's this new thing, online shopping," Lydia rolled her eyes again and put her phone onto the passenger seat, beside her shopping bags. Already she was thinking about what to buy to wear to the movies. Go full costume, or just a nice geek themed dress. She'd seen a lot of nice ones on sale.

"Wait-" Stiles leapt toward her window again, very nearly bursting inside, wanting to get quickly nearer to her. Their stares were close again, intense and grinning. "Did you just ask me out on a date? To the movies? Nine months in advance?"

Breathing deeply, she looked him over and admired the sight of him. Breathing in his delight and wondered if she could keep this up for nine months. If she could, would she get tired of it, or if she could, raise the stakes? "Yeah, Stiles. I just asked you out to see Star Wars. Did you say yes? Or are you planning on making me wait-"

"Yes!" then Stiles smacked his head on the window frame and after swearing he dropped his head onto the bottom of the window's frame. Then said lower, "Yes. Please. Thank you... in memoriam of a great man."

"Okay, Stiles."

'Acceptance.' The last step.

When she patted his head, she combed fingertips behind his ear, clearing his view of her fly away strands when he turned to look at her. She spoke softer, being nearer. "Alright, so. Nine months, if there isn't an invasion of mad creatures or murderous killers, then it's settled."

As he opened his mouth to either make a witty reply or a sincere comment or whatever it was that rattled around in his unfathomable brain, the 'Cantina' ringtone went off again. Groaning, Stiles stood, had the phone to his ear with the practice speed of being Scott's emergency service system. It seemed Scott wouldn't be so easily blown off this time, from the apologetic face-winces and hand-cringes that Stiles mimed at her.

Content for now, Lydia slowly reversed out of the parking slot and Stiles walked further toward the garage door, when she remembered the most important part of the deal.

" _Hey, flyboy_ ," she called out, stuck her head through the window and called out without slowing down. Stiles 'wait-a-sec'd Scott, looked worried, then mortified, and then beamed with pride when she demanded, "don't forget to wear the vest."


End file.
